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No sweet solutions for school-activity fundraisers
By Karl Henkel
BOARDMAN
The Strangeloves, singing in the 1960s, wanted candy.
Some schools nowadays, not so much.
The Boardman district, like many across the nation, have cracked down on sugary foods and beverages sold in schools. With obesity rates among children constantly rising, the strategy makes sense to promote a healthier atmosphere.
But in the process, it has hindered the ability for extracurricular activities to raise money using one of the hottest sellers: candy bars.
“People still know what they want — and they want candy bars,” Boardman band director Thomas Ruggieri said. “They were easy to sell.”
With constrained budgets and spending at a minimum, public-school extracurricular activities rely more than ever on self-promoted fundraising efforts.
But with a 2006 creation of a Boardman schools wellness policy, it’s become much more difficult for extracurriculars to raise necessary funds.
“That was a big fundraiser for us, and we’ve had to adapt,” Ruggieri said.
Ruggieri didn’t say exactly how much money has been left on the table since the wellness policy took place. He said the bands have increased the number of fundraisers to make up for the lost revenue.
Since then, the band has sold citrus fruit, sausage, candles and cookie dough.
Jeff Sirlin, president of school-fundraisers.com, a Massachussetts-based national fundraising company offering products including candy bars, coffee, flowers, candles and eco-friendly shopping bags, said his company started noticing the trend toward healthier fundraising options five to six years ago.
“We’ve definitely seen a shift away from candy bars and any type of sugary foods,” Sirlin said. “We have been actively responding to the shift with the products we offer.”
Sirlin said that has included more nonfood items, or healthier food options such the removal of trans fat from cookie dough.
Hershey’s, another leader in candy-bar fundraisers, did not respond to a request to comment.
Boardman schools Superintendent Frank Lazzeri said he understands that candy bars were a big seller, but that it was more important to focus on the health of students than the potential for lost revenue.
“At a certain point, you’ve got to take a stand and say this isn’t good for kids,” he said. “It’s ethically wrong.”
The measure follows a statement in the three-page Student Wellness Program policy, which reads: “100 percent of Boardman schools fund raising will meet the nutrition recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” That goal’s completion date was targeted for January 2007.
Lazzeri, who compared candy sales to an older form of fundraising — Bingo night — and how it has become less popular because of other forms of legalized gambling, said the reaction toward the wellness policy and its restrictions have changed since its implementation.
“At first, we received a lot of push back, but then people bought into it,” Lazzeri said. “Have they ever been able to make up for the loss in candy-bar revenue? No, they have not.”